Bonsai..?? or Bush..??

[Jedo_03]

A number of recent posts have been extoling the beauty of "Grande-Bonsai"...
Specimens the size of Hyundai Metro-Cars..!!
In Bonsai Dishes the size of Santa's Sleigh..!!!
Seems to align more with the Aussie-Male Gamut of "Big-is-Beautiful"...
Rather than Traditional Pen Jing Philosophy of "Minituarisation" of a Tree in a Pot...
I have several F. Platypoda planted out in my back garden...
Kept trimmed; defoliated; lifted and Root-Pruned every two years...
Beautiful specimens...
Treated like Bonsai...
But NOT Bonsai... In that traditional sense...
Which direction are Aus Bonsai Enthuiasts Heading..??
Grande - or Pen Jing..??

[Emily Csato]

Depends how traditional you want to be. The miniaturization of trees happened as a way for market sellers to transport their fruit trees to sales. If you stick to that principle then anything too heavy to lift with max two people is too big.

If you look at miniaturization as just a small version of x tree, then technically that can be any size that is reasonably smaller at maturity than the normal growth size.

For me personally, stuff that's going into pots I like to stay small (up to a meter). But there are Japanese gardens with bigger bonsai in the ground that are amazing. The argument is that bonsai is a miniature tree in a pot, not in the ground. Well it's still the miniaturization of a tree, no matter what it's in.

[bodhidharma]

That would depend on the type of tree the Artist is working on. Some trees lean towards looking better large e.g Lilac, and some trees lend themselves towards smaller specimens e.g Cotoneaster. Some people like big trees and some people like small trees. I personally think a collection should have good examples of both as this would broaden a bonsai artists experience. How can we view a tree with a biased opinion of..oh, i like small trees so this large tree is no good etc. This would limit the capacity and knowledge of the person viewing the trees and stifle their artistic interpretation imo.

[kcpoole]

Both are good IMHO

A few large trees ar eOK 'cos they do look spectacular, but they take a lot of work to maintain.
Small trees are much nicer to work as they can be moved around easily and take much less work to maintain the foliage and ramification.

As one ages, mobility can become an issue and severly limits the ability tomaintain larger trees

Ken